Establishing an efficient and reliable transmission and distribution system for electrical energy produced from renewable resources as well as conventional power plants requires successful development and deployment of efficient electricity storage technology. Conventional rechargeable batteries are by far the most common form of electricity storage devices. Represented by lithium ion battery technology, this class of rechargeable batteries has been broadly used in small to medium scale electrical storage applications. Attempts to use this low-temperature battery technology for large scale grid energy storage, however, have so far proven difficult, primarily due to the concerns of safety and slow rate of rechargeability. On the other hand, high-temperature rechargeable battery technology, represented by sodium sulfur battery technology, is particularly capable of fast rechargeability, but faces challenges of inability of thermal cycling, high manufacturing cost and corrosion-shortened cycle life.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/632,694, incorporated by reference herein, describes a high-performance, low-cost and safe rechargeable battery system to satisfy applications in grid energy storage. However, production of redox materials for use with such batteries is very energy intensive.
As such, a need exists for an improved method for creating battery redox materials.